Planning communications

Communication on a project should not happen by accident. Stakeholders need different information at different times, through different channels and in different levels of detail. A communications management plan sets out who needs what, when, how, from whom and why, and it is updated as the project and its stakeholders change. This lesson covers communication requirements analysis, the channels formula, communication methods and technology, the contents of a communications management plan, a communication matrix with responsibilities, the hidden cost of meetings and accessibility obligations.

Communication requirements analysis

Planning starts from stakeholder needs, not from the project's habits. Communication requirements analysis asks, for each stakeholder or group: What decisions do they make or influence? What information do they need to make them, and at what level of detail? When and how often? In what format and language? What do they need to tell the project? The stakeholder register and engagement plan provide most of the inputs. Other sources include the organization's reporting standards, contracts (which often specify reports to clients), regulations (which may require formal submissions) and the project's governance structure.

Two principles guide the analysis. First, more is not better. Information overload is as damaging as information starvation, because important messages get lost. Each stakeholder should receive what they need to act, not everything the project produces. Second, communication is a cost. Every report takes time to prepare and read, and every meeting consumes the time of everyone in the room. The plan should justify each recurring item by the decisions or actions it supports.

Communication channels

The number of potential communication channels grows quickly with the number of people. For n people, there are n(n−1)/2 two-way channels. PMP-120 introduced the formula in the context of team size; for stakeholder communication it explains why adding people to a project makes coordination harder and why structured communication becomes essential as projects grow.

# Communication channels and the cost of a recurring meeting (illustrative rates)
def channels(n):
    return n * (n - 1) // 2

for n in (5, 8, 12, 20):
    print(f"{n:2d} people -> {channels(n):3d} channels")

attendees = [("Sponsor", 160), ("Project manager", 95), ("Product owner", 90),
             ("Tech lead", 100), ("Finance analyst", 75), ("Ops manager", 85),
             ("Vendor lead", 120), ("QA lead", 80)]
hours, meetings_per_year = 1.0, 48
hourly = sum(rate for _, rate in attendees)
per_meeting = hourly * hours
print(f"\nCost per meeting: ${per_meeting:,.0f}")
print(f"Cost per year:    ${per_meeting * meetings_per_year:,.0f}")

# Trim to the five people who make decisions; send notes to the rest
core = attendees[:4] + [attendees[5]]
core_cost = sum(r for _, r in core) * 0.75 * meetings_per_year   # 45-minute meeting
print(f"Trimmed meeting per year: ${core_cost:,.0f}")
print(f"Saving: ${per_meeting * meetings_per_year - core_cost:,.0f}")

 5 people ->  10 channels
 8 people ->  28 channels
12 people ->  66 channels
20 people -> 190 channels

Cost per meeting: $805
Cost per year:    $38,640
Trimmed meeting per year: $19,080
Saving: $19,560

The first part of the output shows the growth in channels: a project with 20 active stakeholders has 190 possible pairs. The project manager cannot manage every pair personally, which is why plans route information through defined channels, such as a weekly status report, a steering committee and team ceremonies, rather than leaving it to chance. A typical exam calculation asks how many channels are added when a team grows; for example, going from 8 to 12 people adds 66 − 28 = 38 channels.

Communication methods

PMI guidance groups communication methods into three types. Each has strengths, and most plans use all three.

A useful rule of thumb on the exam: when the situation is sensitive, complex, conflict-laden or requires a decision, choose interactive communication, ideally face to face or by video. When people need a record, push it. When a large group needs reference information, publish it for pull. Pushing an important change only by email to a stakeholder who is already upset is almost always the wrong answer.

Factors that affect the choice of technology include urgency, availability of the technology to all stakeholders, ease of use, the project environment (co-located, virtual or hybrid), sensitivity and confidentiality of the information, and organizational policies on records and security. Agile teams often add information radiators, such as visible boards and burndown charts, which are a form of pull communication placed where the team and visitors naturally see them.

The communications management plan

The communications management plan describes how project communication will be planned, structured, implemented and monitored. Its typical contents are listed below. On smaller projects it can be a single page; on large programs it can be a substantial document with templates.

A communication matrix

Many teams summarize the plan as a communication matrix. Each row is a communication item; columns show audience, content, method, frequency, owner and format. A responsibility assignment for communications, sometimes written as a RACI chart, clarifies who is Responsible for preparing each item, who is Accountable for its accuracy and release, who is Consulted beforehand and who is Informed.

The cost of meetings

Meetings are interactive communication at its most expensive. The second part of the code output above estimates the cost of a weekly one-hour coordination meeting with eight attendees at illustrative loaded hourly rates: about $805 per meeting and about $38,600 a year. Cutting it to the five people who actually make decisions, shortening it to 45 minutes and sending notes to the others roughly halves the cost. The point is not to eliminate meetings, which are essential for decisions and relationships, but to give each recurring meeting a clear purpose, the right attendees, an agenda and documented outcomes.

Accessibility and inclusion

A communication is only effective if everyone who needs it can use it. That includes people who use screen readers, people with hearing loss who need captions, people with cognitive disabilities who benefit from plain language, and people who read the project's language as a second language. Accessible documents use real headings, alternative text for images, sufficient colour contrast, readable fonts and captions for video. Colour should never be the only way meaning is conveyed, which matters for red-amber-green status reports.

In Canada, the Accessible Canada Act (2019) applies to federally regulated organizations, which must publish accessibility plans and feedback processes under the Accessible Canada Regulations. Several provinces have their own laws; Ontario's Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) includes an Information and Communications Standard requiring accessible formats and communication supports on request and accessible websites for many organizations. Project communications for public services should be planned to meet these requirements from the start.

Event-triggered communication

Not all communication follows a calendar. The plan should also define event-triggered communication: who must be told, how quickly and by whom when particular events occur. Typical triggers include a safety incident, a security breach, a milestone missed by more than an agreed margin, a major change approved, a key person leaving and a significant media enquiry. Defining these in advance avoids confusion about who speaks for the project when something goes wrong, and it ensures regulators and executives hear first from the project rather than from the news.